The Blizzard

December 26-27^th: A blizzard hits New York City. By the end of the night, many areas have collected more than a foot and a half or more. In fact, the night before I couldn’t sleep because a plow truck was stuck plowing through the same block over many hours. On Monday, we heard all sources of public transportation have been completely shut down. The city plow trucks couldn’t keep up with the amount of snow fall the night before. Roads were covered in snow and parking vehicles were buried. The city literally stopped running. No one went to work and no one could go anywhere. I spent the day playing computer games all day.

December 28^th: I woke up 7 AM in the morning that day to get ready to go to a funeral in Chinatown. I raged in the morning because it was still awful outside. Most of the trains were experiencing delays and most of the Brooklyn trains were suspended (B, Q, D, N). Luckily for us, the bloody F train was still running! Since my dad said we would have to go to the funeral no matter what, we journeyed across Brooklyn to take the F train to Chinatown.

As we ventured to the closest F train, the path was quite challenging. Brooklyn looked like the result of an apocalypse. As I traveled the streets, it looked like I was inside the world of a disaster movie. Cars were abandoned in the middle of the streets and pedestrians traveled not on the sidewalk but on paths made by cars. As we made our way through the streets, we saw many people were struggling trying to get their cars out of the roads. Good Samaritans would stop and push the cars as they tried to force their way through the snow. It was a disaster. Avenue X was the worst. I don’t think the plows got to these small streets so therefore people simply abandoned their cars. Cars that entered couldn’t get out of this trap so the drivers just left their cars hanging around. It took us an hour to travel from Sheepshead Bay to Avenue X on McDonald Ave. After we got there, it took another 20 stops to get to East Broadway. Chinatown looked terrible. Whereas the snow in Brooklyn looked fluffy and clean, the snow in Chinatown looked like tar and oil spill material.

This was my second funeral event in my life. As far as funerals go, Chinese funerals are very superstitious. The older generation have all these rituals and customs that they follow. I must have bowed at least 20 times that day. There’s usually a ritual in which the family goes back to where they live to visit the home one more time before they head to the cemetery. Of course, once we attempted to get out of Chinatown we realized it was going to be impossible to get into Brooklyn. It took like half an hour to get out of Chinatown because the traffic was so bad. It took us all day to travel by car back and forth to all these places. After dinner, it took another freaking two hours to finally get home. By that time, the snow was starting to melt. However, many unfortunate cars and drivers were still stuck on the roads. I pity them because once they entered the one way, there was no getting out. MTA buses were stuck and personal cars couldn’t pass through. It was quite a day.

Last Post of the Year

Remember this?



Damn this cerberus dog is mad cute.



Anyway so the semester is over and winter break is here. I haven't really been posting much lately because I recently bought a new PC on Black Friday and ever since then, I've been playing a ton of games on the PC. My old system was utter trash so all I could ever play on that was browser games (lmao). I also bought SC2 Wings of Liberty during finals week, which I do admit was a stupid move. HoN 2.0 and SC2, yep sounds really productive alright.

The Walking Dead: S1E6 TS-19

S1E6 TS-19 - Season Finale

Summary

In the beginning of the episode, we are shown a flashback of a scene in which Shane attempts to get Rick out of the hospital bed. In the present, the survivors are momentarily saved in this government facility, ran by a single scientist. The rest of his team have either deserted or have commit suicide. The survivors have a decent meal and hot showers and everything seems to be great. But Shane has one too many drinks and confronts Lori once again about their relationship. Shane forces himself on her and Lori is luckily able to fend him off. In the morning, they discover the facility is running out of power and is going into shutdown. A timer goes off and the scientist locks them all inside to await their timely destruction. Some survivors threaten the guy, others plead him. In the end, Rick convinces the scientist to unlock the doors and let them choose their own fate. While some choose to leave, Andrea and another woman decides to stay and die in the explosion with the scientist. Dale manages to convince Andrea to escape and we see them all barely get away from the explosion.


Thoughts

This episode only set things in motion for the next season. It's a great cliffhanger. The survivors get to a government lab thinking they will be saved but in the end, they add one more to the death count and also lose some more ammunition. There was a scene in which they were each taking a shower and we as the viewers are shown the emotions of each individual. While some people were happy to finally take a shower (a luxury), others are all messed up in the head. One of those people is Shane. He almost rapes Lori after dinner, however the consequences probably stopped him from doing it. We are shown in the beginning of the episode that Shane truly tried to save Rick when he was in the hospital, so he wasn't lying when he told Lori that Rick is dead. I can empathize with Shane because he lost both Lori and his relationship. However, this also makes the viewers loathe Lori because there is nothing redeeming about her. Towards the end, the scientist whispers something to Rick as they were fleeing from the facility. I am going to guess that he saw the Shane vs. Lori conflict on camera and decided to tell Rick about it. Only time will tell.

But I love you Lori! You can't do this to me!

Let's threaten the guy who already chose to suicide, that will work.

Yo dawg, I theres something you need to know.

Girl you craze?

And it goes kaboom

The survivors (from left to right): Shane, Dale, Lori, Rick, T-Dog, Andrea, Carl, Glenn, Sophia, Daryl, Carol, Jacqui, Scientist Edwin.

End of the Season:
So who is left after season 1? Headcount would be: 11

Rick - leader of the group
Lori - Rick's wife, former affair with Shane
Carl - useless son
Shane - messed up in the head
T-Dog - minor character with no back story
Andrea - some back story, also the only hottie left
Glenn - Korean guy is still alive yeah!
Dale - old guy who seems to care a little too much about Andrea
Daryl - hothead badass
Carol - useless character
Sophia - useless character's daughter

Thoughts:

A six episode season is just retarded. They hook the viewers attention and then makes us wait for another year before we can watch the second season, which will be only 12 episodes. Due to the good ratings, AMC will probably produce a better second season, so I guess it's worth the wait. As far as what has happened so far, I think it could have gotten better. I thought they would spend the entire season focusing on how Rick tries to find his wife and son and along the way, meet different people. But he found them in episode 3, which was a huge letdown. They have so many characters but barely any of them have a back story. It's reminds me of Lost, except in Lost they went into depth with each character and make you care about each one of them. The problem with this series is there isn't enough character development. People seem to be dying every episode and we as the viewers can't sympathize with their deaths because we don't know them. Okay so you died, who cares? The love triangle relationship was given way too much emphasis and created far too much hostility towards Lori. I think every viewer wants her dead because she's a slut. Anyway, I hope they go above and beyond my expectations for this series because so far, it's been great. Each episode does serve it's meaning and it isn't like your typical American drama in each there is no linearity in the show. Don't you just hate shows in which stuff just happens and there is no point?

I would also like to thank everyone who followed me through this season.

The Walking Dead: S1E5 Wildfire

S1E5: Wildfire

Summary

The survivors are cleaning up the camp by burning the fallen walkers. While the rest of the dead get a pick axe through the skull, Andrea is still mourning over her dead sister Amy. She refuses to let anyone near her and threatens Rick when he offered to help her. Amy reanimates and Andrea shoots her in the head. They also find out another one of their crew got bitten and they debate on what to do with him. Rick suggests they move out and into the CDC, where there is supposed to be medical research on the disease and shelter. Rick and Shane have a long argument about it, stating it is a big gamble to move everyone out of the woods. However, with limited food supply, they head for the CDC. Inside the CDC, we are shown a single scientist still doing experiments. However, an accident destroys his only specimen and he gives up. Rick and the rest of the survivors make it to the CDC and finds nothing but dead bodies. When the group prepares to leave thinking the building is empty, Rick notices the cameras moving and begs for his group to be allowed in. The doors open as the group of survivors look on astonished.


Thoughts
The beginning half of the episode was emotionally intense. We see Andrea holding Amy's corpse the entire time and we wonder whether or not she was going to take care of the matter or commit suicide because of her sister's death. By letting her sister reanimate into a walker, she put everyone else in danger. It was really heart breaking to see Amy wake up again only to get her brains blown out. Another interesting thing that happened was Shane's shady moves. Rick and Shane went out into the woods to have their argument and while Rick was looking for something in the bushes, Shane had a deranged look on his face and held the shotgun toward Rick's back. We all know that Shane banged Rick's wife and one has to wonder how this will get resolved. This might be a foreshadowing of Shane trying to kill Rick when he gets the chance.

Back off, I'm going to take care of this.

Brains... want brains... (she doesnt speak but groans)

Hey Rick guess who is behind you?

The army (of the dead).

Another failure

I'm sick of failing my interviews. Therefore, every time I fail one, I'm going to post why I think I did poorly and remember for next time what I should do differently.

For the GS Interview, I did not display enough enthusiasm, did not smile enough, did not engage enough. My answers were plain and not interesting enough. I did not ask the right questions--too self centered and did not display enough interest.

For today's interview, I was ill-prepared. I did not expect/prepare for these questions and could not think on my feet.

- Who is the CFO/CEO of our company? (Should've done my research)
- Who is an example of a good leader? (Really shot myself in the foot there) (Next time say MLKJ)
- Scenario problem with think-on-your-feet question. (failed)
- Multitasking problem- Give an example of how you multitask in the past. (Failed)
- Why you want this as opposed to IB/Sales&Trading? (Gave an "ok" answer)
- Tell me about a time when you were in a team leader experience? (Good answer)
- Tell me about a time when you were in a team and a person did not perform? (Good answer)
- Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond what was required of you? (Good answer)
- Tell me about a time when you failed and how did you overcome this? (BS answer)
- Why should we hire you, why are you unique?


I should do mock interviews.

Discover Your Stengths Now

I bought this book on Amazon for $4 (essentially for shipping, since the book costs a penny) a few days ago. It comes with a code for an online assessment test which is a series of questions designed to reveal your top 5 talents (foundations for strengths). Luckily the book I bought came with an unused code, so I was able to use it. According to the test, my top 5 talents are:

1. Deliberative
2. Intellect
3. Responsibility
4. Consistency
5. Adaptability

I'm not going to write out what they mean since copyright issues might bite me.


My first and strongest theme is: Deliberative.

You are careful. You are vigilant. You are a private person. You know that the world is an unpredictable place. Everything may seem in order, but beneath the surface you sense the many risks. Rather than denying these risks, you draw each one out into the open. Then each risk can be identified, assessed, and ultimately reduced. Thus, you are a fairly serious person who approaches life with a certain reserve. For example, you like to plan ahead so as to anticipate what might go wrong. You select your friends cautiously and keep your own counsel when the conversation turns to personal matters. You are careful not to give too much praise and recognition, lest it be misconstrued. If some people don’t like you because you are not as effusive as others, then so be it. For you, life is not a popularity contest. Life is something of a minefield. Others can run through it recklessly if they so choose, but you take a different approach. You identify the dangers, weigh their relative impact, and then place your feet deliberately. You walk with care.

Sounds like me, probably 95% accurate.

The Walking Dead S1E4: Vatos

S1E4: Vatos

Summary:

The rescue team finds Dixon's dismembered hand on top of the rooftop. In order to escape from the handcuffs and avoid death by starvation, Dixon ended up sawing through his own hand (desperate times call for desperate measures, kind of like SAW 1). They make their way back onto the streets to retrieve the guns Rick dropped on the streets earlier in the first episode only to find themselves ambushed by other people. The assailants capture Glenn (Asian guy) and takes him hostage. Rick and crew also take a hostage of their own and tries to make an exchange. The gang leader threatens to kill Glenn if Rick does not hand over the guns and the hostage. Both sides refuse to give in and a bloodbath almost takes place. Fortunately, an elderly lady comes out of the gang and prevents an all out shooting disaster. We learn that these "gangsters" are simply former hospital workers trying to defend the old and sick. Rick leaves half of their guns with these folks due to their just cause and heads back for camp. All is well back at the camp when suddenly, Amy is bitten by a walker. The camp plunges into chaos as walkers overrun the place and the survivors desperately try to fend them off. Rick and crew arrives back in time to save the day.

Thoughts:

This episode was very intense. The rescue team almost killed a bunch of innocent people trying to defend the elderly. I thought the "gang" leader's performance was utmost convincing. The two hostile groups were ready to fire at each other and Rick's outnumbered group definitely would not have survived the onslaught. It was a series of misunderstandings and thankfully the Abuelo came out to disarm the men. Rick's decision to distribute half their gun supply was both noble and risky. In a zombie apocalypse, guns are probably the most important asset one can obtain. As for the camp assault, it was very unfortunate that Amy died. She's young and she's blonde, why did they have to kill her off?! I was expecting her to die and reanimate and get shot again, but no such thing happened. Another discrepancy I noticed for this series in particular is that the way you can get infected is different. It seems the only way you can get infected in TWD is to actually get bitten and die from it. Andrea, Amy's sister, held Amy's dying body, smothered in blood and nothing happens to her. Another thing is that the only way to kill a walker, is to destroy the brain. Even decapitating the head doesn't entirely do the job, because the head will continue to snap at you.

Your life or your hand?

The standoff.

Officer Shoot-em-up.

Probably NSFW.

The Walking Dead S1E3: Tell It to the Frogs

S1E3: Tell It to the Frogs

Summary
The city survivors reunite with the rest of the survivors hiding in the woods. From the previous episode we learned that Lori, Rick's unfaithful wife, is actively involved with Rick's best friend, Shane. They both naturally assumed Rick was dead when the outbreak began and when he shows up in camp, they were all flabbergasted. Of course, Rick knows none of this and is just glad to see his best friend and wife/son alive. Meanwhile, the camp survivors discuss on the issue of how to relay the news of tying the violent hooligan (Dixon) up on the roof to the hooligan's brother (another violent guy, SURPRISE). Rick decides to lead the crew back into Atlanta to rescue Dixon because he was the one who tied him up there in the first place. While they travel to the city, we are shown the breakup of Lori and Shane. Lori wants nothing to do with Shane anymore because Rick is back and claims everything before was a mistake. Shane is an emotional mess because Rick's presence not only took away his lover, but also his purpose in life is now rendered meaningless. When a man beats his wife, Shane takes this opportunity to unleash his anger and beats the living pulp out of the guy. He almost kills the guy and everyone is horrified by his actions. Back in the city, the rescue crew make their way to the rooftop and finds Dixon missing, his whereabouts unknown.

Thoughts
I wasn't too thrilled about episode 3. First half of the episode was very predictable and there was way too much talking. As for the Lori x Shane relationship, it is really debatable on who is right. It's the end of the world, and it's natural to assume your husband's dead, after all he was lying unconscious in the hospital when the outbreak began. Now that Rick's back, the only logical/ethical thing to do is end the relationship. Shane is utterly destroyed by this reality and almost kills another man in a fit of rage. It started out righteous when he stepped in to stop the beating of the wife, but as he punched the guy in the face, it slowly got more frightening. If the others didn't pull him away, he most definitely would have killed. The other issue of the matter is Rick's decision making. Arguably, the decision to go rescue Dixon is a bad one. Why would you go rescue a guy who will most likely try to kill you once he is free? The guy is a threat to all the survivors because of his dictator/violent attributes and yet they want to rescue him. Now that he escaped, he will most likely seek revenge on those who left him there, namely Rick. Good one Rick, not only the dead are after you, watch out for Dixon.

HOW DARE YOU BEAT YOUR WIFE, ILL STOP YOU BY DOING THE SAME THING TO YOU

WHERE IS DIXON ARGHHHH

AMC Series: The Walking Dead

When I first learned of this new upcoming series back in October, I was hyped. Finally, a zombie TV series, something that is ongoing and doesn't simply end after 2 hours (stupid movies). Unfortunately, a show of this magnitude requires a lot of producing effort so the producers decided to make the first season only 6 episodes. Since there will only be 6 episodes, I decided I will give a plot summary each week. The show airs every Sunday at 10 PM ET on AMC.


*******SPOILERS AHEAD*******


Episode 1: Days Gone Bye

Summary:
Rick (main character) is a sheriff who was shot and put into the hospital for a month. After he wakes up, he discovers he is alone in the hospital. Rick decides to go home and encounters very "strange" people as he rides a bike back to his house. He later meets a father and a son and they tell him what's been going on. Apparently, the zombie apocalypse is happening (no duh). The father informs the sheriff that the city might be a safe zone based on a broadcast a while ago. Rick decides to go look for his wife and kid and sets off on his journey, parting ways with the father and son. Having no vehicle of transportation, Rick innovates and finds a horse in a barn. He rides the horse into the city and is overwhelmed by a large number of walkers. The walkers eat his horse and he barely escapes and is trapped inside a tank.

Thoughts:
The pilot was 90 minutes long and it sets up a situation that's similar to 28 Days Later. A guy wakes up from a hospital and discovers the world is in chaos. One thing I never understand from this concept is; why didn't the zombies eat him while he was unconscious? Nevertheless, the plot is linear and somewhat predictable. Even though they try to portray Rick as cool as possible, one has to question his intelligence. What kind of idiot rides a horse into the city and expects to be able to escape a horde? The horde easily zerg'd him and tore the poor horse apart. The poor bastard was stuck inside a tank. I really did not know how he was going to get out of that one, which made me want to watch EP 2 ASAP.

28 Days Later anyone?

Hey sup gaice, yall like mah horse?

Episode 2: Guts

Summary:
We see glimpses of survivors and more importantly, Rick's wife and son. For whatever reason, the wife Lori is banging Rick's co-worker. Back in the city, Rick receives a radio transmission from someone outside. Glenn, an Asian guy, helps Rick escape from inside the tank and the horde. After they get back into their hideout, everyone scolds on Rick for being an idiot. By firing his gun whenever a walker came close, he drew more noise and attention from the rest of the horde. Now, the shopping mall entrance is crawling with hungry zombies trying to break in. On top of the rooftop, a violent hooligan in the group almost kills one of the survivors and Rick steps in to disarm him. The rest of the survivors plan to escape from the mall because the doors won't hold out forever. Unfortunately, going out would be suicide with so many zombies waiting outside. Rick finally uses his brain for the first time in the series and decides to blend in with the zombies. They dismember a walker and spill the walker's guts onto their clothing. By smelling like the dead, they manage to get far enough to hitch a truck. In the end, they manage to get everyone out of the building--all of them except the violent hooligan, who was handcuffed to the rooftop to be left for dead.

Thoughts:
The pilot wasn't all that original. However, episode 2 really stepped it up. Rick's stupidity never ceases to amaze me, which is why I was surprised that he was the one who came up with the idea of cloaking themselves with the stench of the dead. The scene in which they chopped up the dead was gory and bloody disgusting. The scene when they had to walk slowly to the car was probably the best scene so far. I thought the entire episode was very well thought out. The only thing that didn't surprise me was the thing affair with the wife.

Choppin' it up.

Blending in with the crowd.

Screens from AMC.

Baruch College

As the days go by, I take more pride in going to Baruch. Our main building, the Newman Vertical Campus building, is the state of the art building used by many producers in film. The 8th floor of the campus was used as the school setting in Step Up 3D which came out this year (2010).

Baruch has made its appearance other times as well, including pretending to be the hospital of the TV series, Nurse Jackie. Today during club hours there was a lot of commotion with live filming.



I think given a few more years down the road, Baruch College will receive more recognition. Just by being a business school in the city already has its advantages because most companies have their headquarters here in Manhattan. Today we were visited by the McGraw Hill Companies. The recruiters told us we were one of their main "core" campus recruiting schools, so that was appealing.

Rent is too damn HIGH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4o-TeMHys0


Trolling is all so common on the internet. However, what happens when you start trolling in real life? Serious topics/discussions will turn into a joke, which is precisely what happened last night in the most exciting New York Governor Debate EVER.

Last night, in the first and also last debate between all seven candidates in the upcoming elections, it was not the Republican nor the Democrat who stole the spotlight last night, but Jimmy McMillan, leader of the Rent is too Damn High Party who did.

You can catch a brief summary of the debate in this article. I couldn't stop laughing after hearing this guy speak (he looks like a fusion between Mr. T and Hulk Hogan). He insists the solution to solving all of New York's problems is to lower the rent because RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH. He speaks with plenty of eloquence but solely focuses on one platform. When questioned on his opinion on gay marriage he responded with, "Rent Is Too Damn Party feels if you want to marry a shoe, I’ll marry you."

Surely this man cannot be serious? Then again, seeing how another candidate is a former female pimp (platform includes legalizing prostitution, marijuana and same sex marriage) who introduced Eliot Spitzer his prostitute, this year's election sure is full of "interesting" people.

Seeing how this guy only got 4000 votes in 2005, I wonder how many votes he will get this year after all of this publicity.

moar quotes

"Who are we, really? Just a bundle of good genes and bad genes mixed with good habits and bad habits. And since there's no gene for coolness and confidence, then being uncool and unconfident are just bad habits, which can be changed with enough guidance and will power." - Style

Quite motivational for us average Joes.

Fucking Austria

Fucking Austria...



No that's not what I meant, I meant Fucking, Austria. There really exists a town in Austria called Fucking. While the rest of the English speaking world find this humorous, the Austrians are not amused. According to this article, the welcome sign into Fucking is frequently stolen by tourists. "We will not stand for the Fucking signs being removed," the officer said in the article. In fact, they love the town so much, the Austrians even live on several Fucking Roads. That's right, so next time you visit Austria, make sure you stop by Fucking to take a picture and whatnot. Hell, even crack some jokes while you're there. Just make sure you don't piss off the Fucking people though.



Wiki article

Motivation

"In life, people tend to wait for good things to come to them. And by waiting, they miss out. Usually, what you wish for doesn't fall in your lap, it falls somewhere nearby, and you have to recognize it, stand up, and put in the time and work it takes to get to it. This isn't because the universe is cruel. It's because the universe is smart. It has its own cat-string theory and knows we don't appreciate things that fall into our laps." - Style


Life is so ironic sometimes. We don't appreciate the simple things in life and only take value in things we don't have. Currently I'm reading this book (name of the book will not be revealed) and it certainly is an eye opener. Maybe it's time for a change...

Internet Funnys

How cute =)



Why didnt this ever happen in Scooby Doo? (I always thought that show sucked)

Ghost Whisperer

Recently I've come across a new (old) show called Ghost Whisperer. The show is about how Melinda Gordon (portrayed by Jennifer Love Hewitt) helps ghosts and their family members cope with their deaths with her special ability to see and talk to ghosts. The plot so far is not continuous, meaning each episode has very little to do with the next one. It is sort of like ghost-of-the-week kind of thing. Each episode is somewhat similar, she would encounter a troubled spirit and tries to find out why they are still walking the Earth, followed by trying to solve the spirit's problems. The show is sometimes spooky because they do cheap scare tactics but other than that it's pretty normal.

I really enjoy watching this show. JLH's character is amazing and one can't help but fall in love with her. Melinda is a store owner by her day job but she spends most of her time helping others. Her kindness is an admirable trait and simply takes away my angry emotions. As you may or may not know, I am irritated easily and rage at quite a lot of trivial things. Right now I'm always watching an episode before I go to sleep because it makes me calm and it makes me sleep better at night. I don't know what it is, perhaps it's her great smile or something? Just looking at her makes you go all giggly and happy inside xD. Honestly speaking it's the sex appeal of the show that earns its ratings. JLH looks incredible each episode and no one cares even if the episode was poorly constructed.

When I was looking up the show I found out they canceled it this year. Apparently 7 million viewers per episode wasn't enough for CBS to renew the series. I suppose it had a good run--fanboys kept the ratings high for five seasons.

i haz a hot dog

I rage quite often so here's a light hearted picture to make you feel fuzzy.



I think dressing up your pet into silly things is awesome.

Bad Parenting 101 #1

I'm gonna start a mini series of how bad parents behave on the train. I was inspired by some really bad parents recently on the train and I am going to jot down what they did.

1. A mother and a child in a stroller- the kid is downright annoying and spoiled. He was yelling and screaming and the mother was on the phone. To make him shut up, she handed him a bag of Doritos. As I watched the kid gobble down the orange triangles, I noticed how unusually fat he was, especially for a kid in a stroller. Poor kid, he's gonna be a fatty when he enters school.

*note to self* - Do not feed junk food at a young age.

2. A mother and a daughter - A teenage mother (those are never good) and her bitchy friend were talking about guys on the train. Her five year old (est.) daughter was trying to get her attention and was trying to talk to her. The mother was ignoring her daughter and kept swearing about something about some guy. The situation looked very bad to me. The kid will probably grow up to be a repeat of this failure of a mother.

Good Breakups?

I was thinking on the train one day and a very interesting idea occurred to me. We've all witnessed how devastating breakups can be for both parties. Looking at Ted (from How I Met Your Mother), the girls who he has been with in serious relationships hurt him the most when it was time to terminate the relationship. Why do relationships come to an end? It is most likely because there isn't much excitement and chemistry anymore because as time passes, people get bored of old things.

So here is what I think, break ups don't have to suck! What if there was a thing called a good break up? Let's say for example you've been going out with someone for a couple of months and you are both crazy for each other. Now let's stop for a second and think about it. Wouldn't it be better to break up the relationship when things are going well? IF both parties can come to realize that things are going well and want to put things on hold for the future, wouldn't that be something good? After all, not many people get back together with an ex because the breakup was probably bad. However, if the break up was on a good note, like I mentioned, if they ever wanted to get back together, why the hell not?

My theory is, have good breakups. This way, you'll have plenty of options when you're finally ready to settle down. (in theory)

HIMYM in action

In season 5 episode 21 of How I Met Your Mother, Ted shows us he keeps a bunch of letters he writes to himself in case he ever starts thinking of his past love interests.

"The Letter" system by Ted Mosby - write a letter to your future self to remind yourself why you should not get back together with an EX, or not fall for the same person, etc.

I've been thinking about it and I have to do the same. I still retain a ton of feelings for my first unrequited love and I need to jot down all the reasons why I should not fall into the same pitfall again. Thank you Ted Mosby (and HIMYM), for showing me the way!

unmotivated right now

Okay things are going downhill this summer. Not only does my current "job" suck, but my only source of entertainment is also dismantled now.

The Job:

Currently I am "interning" at MetLife. At first I got the job and thought I landed the jackpot. I didn't ask about the pay or anything because I didn't want to seem like money was all I cared about (on the first interview). However, I should have suspected something was wrong because the guy simply handed the job to me. He didn't ask me any questions on a normal interview, he simply told me the job description and asked for my availability. So what do I do these days? When I applied, it was supposed to be "analyze financial asset models" and other wordy descriptions. However, all I do is make cold calls. That's right, I'm a free telemarketer and my time and work is so meaningless, I receive no recognition and no money for it.

I hate my work because 99% of these calls are failures. About half of them go straight voicemail, a third of the phone lines are busy, and the rest are the rejections I receive. I've made some successful calls, but have I received any compensation for it? Nope. Where is my commission? Is my time really that meaningless? I'm not even properly registered onto the system and no one knows of my existence. Is this right? Why am I still there?


ME time (My Enjoyment)

The only things I look forward to each week, are two things. First, playing Heroes Of Newerth with my friends. Second, our weekly volleyball events on the weekend. Sure job sucks, but when I come home or when it's the weekend, I can at least enjoy myself and take a load of stress off. What's changed?

As a killer team of five players, our HoN team is entered into several tournaments. We've been on a roll and we have a very good streak going. One of the tournaments I feel we can make the finals. However, just when everything is looking smoothly, one of the five of us decides to go EMO on us and quit the game. For no reason. Not even a reason as to why he quit. This guy won't pick up the phone, won't respond to IMs, nothing. All of my hopes and ambition goes straight down the drain because the team is nothing unless we have all five of us. This absolutely is killing me.

Second, what happened to our weekly volleyball events at Central Park? I have no idea what's going on, but people aren't going anymore. Maybe I'm an extremely habitual guy and doesn't like the idea of change. I looked forward to meeting up with my friends every week and play some games at Central Park. Nowadays, whenever someone creates an event, hardly anyone responds. People always ask, who's going? Well maybe if you show up and then others will as well. But the thing is, no one is going anymore and it's a chain effect. Sadly, this is killing me as well. What is there to look forward to now?

Group Interview

Today I had my first group interview. I got the interview through the Weissman Center. There was a total of nine of us, including me. It was a big Baruch fest, with one guy from Fordham. I've never been on a group interview before, so before the interview I looked online on what to expect. All I can say is, you have to make a good lasting impression and stand out in a good way.

There were a lot of different personalities amongst the group. Let's see who they are:

1. The I ALWAYS ANSWER FIRST guy: this speaks for itself, this guy was the first to answer every question the interviewer asked us. This displayed his self confidence, his quickness on his feet, as well as his arrogance.

2. The I DID MY HOMEWORK guy: this guy did his homework and tries to refer back to his knowledge of the company whenever possible. All of his questions relates back to how the company is performing and includes facts and figures from the news. I dislike this guy because he seems very superficial and a suck up.

3. The I SOCIALIZE WITH EVERYONE guy: the guy who spoke to everyone and did the icebreaking, as well as trying to invoke responses from people. This guy tries to be the chill guy and tries to be the center of attention as well. Another type of suck up.

4. The FOREIGNER guy: the typical story of how this guy recently came to the US, is self motivated, pays for college and works at the same time, and pretty much amazing all around. The AMERICAN dream as you can call it.

5. The STUTTERING guy: this guy is obviously a nervous wreck and lacks both self confidence and experience. His voice was cracking up whenever it was his turn to answer and although he claimed to be an honors student with an excellent GPA, he's one of those bookworms that's never been out of the house.

And then there's me. What I did was try to relate everything to my current "job" and answered most of the questions using my experience with MetLife. I tried to stand out in my answers, but I don't think I made a strong enough impression. There were two people who I felt were more qualified than I was at the group interview. Oh well. Oh yeah, it was at UBS Financial.

WSJ article

As you may or may not know, I'm taking an Economics class this summer. Our professor sends us a couple of articles every week to read and discuss in class. I found this one very interesting so I'm going to share it with you all.

"Missing Children by Gary S. Becker" on the Wall Street Journal

To summarize, this article talks about the problem of the decline in birthrates and its effect on the world economy. The article states that every country needs to produce roughly 2.1 kids per family in order to sustain and grow the population. However, most countries now have fallen below 1 kid per family. What are the effects of a decline population?

1. More of the working class and more old people. With more people going into retirement and less people entering into the work force, the government will lose tax revenue while paying more social security for the retired.

2. Less young people in the labor force amounts to less innovation. Without innovation, there is no growth.

3. The rise in the older population will increase medical costs as well as other costs.

This Season

This is quite a big season of television (at least for me). I don't remember the last time I followed so many different television series at any given time. Contains a lot of spoilers.

Smallville Season 9 (CW11)

This series has been going downhill ever since Kristin Kreuk and Michael Rosenbaum left the show back in season 7. Why the hell do I still watch it? Probably to see how much they can mess up the show even more. The problem with series like these is that the longer the show goes on, the more ridiculous the story lines become. The producers have to deal with actor's contracts and other changes and thus the story line must be altered to meet those needs.

What happened this season? Tess Mercer (who?) released a bunch of Kandorians (Kryptonians) from an orb and they threatened to take over the Earth. Everything leads to an epic finale where our hero Clark must clash against a ton of other super powered Kryptonians but what happens? Spoiler: not too much. It was such a bad ending to the story arc.


Supernatural Season 5 (CW11)

I absolutely love this series. Even though season 1 was definitely the best season, I still follow this one every week as it airs on Thursdays. What the hell do you watch this show for, there aren't even any hot female leads! That's true--however being a horror fan, this show has been quite captivating. Not only is it action packed, but there's a lot of comical moments here and there.

Season 5 is about how Sam and Dean goes about fixing the Apocalypse. They released Lucifer from hell and go around trying to how to fix the current situation. In the season finale, the inevitable fight between Michael and Lucifer looks like it was going to happen, but only to be foiled by the two brothers. The legendary fight was stopped and the planet is saved, but only at the cost of one brother. I have to say the season finale was disappointing to say the very least. I was expecting a lot more action and special effects but I guess that was too much to ask for in 45 minutes.

How I Met Your Mother Season 5 (CBS)

Although this series is in season 5, I've only really begun to start watching this series this season. A bunch of my friends told me it is a great show and indeed it is. Even though the story sidetracks often, most viewers prefer it that way because the show would be over once it gets to the part when Ted finally reveals who the mother is. I can't really compare this season with the others because I haven't watched the earlier ones yet. Season 5 was pretty good and provided a lot of laughs.



Lost (ABC)

Funny thing about this show is that when it came out I didn't watch the first season (from what I heard was the best season). I started watching it sometime during season 2 and stopped watching it further because the show shifted to 10 PM for season 3 (I used to sleep early back then).

So whats up with season 6, the final season? Well I caught the retrospective episode before season 6 began and they pretty much summed up all of the important parts of the plot in 2 hours. So with my knowledge of season 2 and 2 hours of summary, I caught up. Season 6 was very exciting. Every episode built more tension and kept me wanting for more. Although the writers are good at creating cliffhangers, they definitely are not good at creating an ending. The ending was very disappointing because it left too many questions unsolved. After watching the 2.5 hour series finale I was still confused and did not know what happened. Hell, not even the actors really know what happened. So what is Lost? Don't expect to really understand anything. The show is just a really cool joyride but lacks explanations.

New Series

Community (NBC)

This show is spectacular. There are seven main characters and the story revolves around the lives of seven community college students. The show makes fun of community colleges in general and how the characters behave. I can't really explain the style of the comedy. You just need to watch it to get it. I highly recommend this series!






Modern Family (ABC)

Another new comedy series, this one is on ABC. The cast is even bigger than Community; seems like the new trend is to include as many characters as possible. It follows the lives of three typical families: a straight couple with 3 kids, a gay couple with an adopted child, and a hot mom married to a rich old guy. I haven't watched the entire season as of yet, I've only seen a couple of episodes here and there. I don't think it is as funny as Community but I'll give it a shot.






V (ABC)

V is an annoying name for a TV series. It's so difficult to search for images because V is so short. As I was watching Lost, the premier of this show caught my eye and I downloaded all of the episodes. I did not have the chance to watch it yet but it looks like a good series.




The Vampire Diaries (CW11)

I am by no means a fan of the recent trend of vampire shows/movies. Hell, I didn't even watch the Twilight movies. So why the hell am I watching this? It just so happens that this show is on the same night as Supernatural, just preceding the show. So I decided to give it a shot. The show is alright I suppose, it's pretty complicated and stuff. But in short, it's main story is about how two brothers compete for the love of this one girl. Thank goodness the cast is good looking or else I wouldn't even bother watching this.






I haven't seen any of the previous seasons but when I saw the lineup for this season, I decided to watch it. A lot of eye candy on this season :Q. Nicole Scherzinger, Pamela Anderson, Erin Andrews, etc. From the beginning of the season, I've already knew who was going to win it all. Nicole Scherzinger, the Pussycat Doll, won this season. She is an amazing performer and dancing probably comes naturally to her. There were also some really bad people on this season. They had Buzz Aldrin, the 80 year old retired astronaut on the show. Why bother getting him on the show? They also had Kate Gosslin (who?) and she was just plain bad. But this season was worth watching just because of Nicole Scherzinger. Yep.